NC receives $211 million in tobacco settlement payments

Raleigh: North Carolina has received $211 million in payments from major tobacco companies, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today.

“This is an important settlement for North Carolina and we’re pleased to provide our state with these much needed funds,” said Cooper.

North Carolina received a total of $211,162,272.54 from the major tobacco companies this month, with the money going to the State’s general fund and the Golden L.E.A.F. Foundation.

Cooper informed Governor Pat McCrory and legislative leaders about the payments in letters sent today.

Cooper’s office and 19 other states recently reached an agreement with major tobacco companies that avoided costly litigation and provided a framework to ensure continued annual payments to the state. The agreement resolved a 10-year dispute over payments owed by the companies under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

In 1998, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard agreed to pay the states an average of $6.5 billion a year to settle lawsuits over health care costs related to smoking. Several other tobacco companies later joined the MSA. For the past ten years, the tobacco companies and the states had a dispute over portions of the payments.

Since 2003, North Carolina has received a total of more than $1 billion under the agreement. Approximately $23 million or more of each annual payment would have been put at risk had the dispute not been resolved.